Commitment to Scottish TV to be questioned at festival

A DEBATE about the extent of TV’s commitment to regional production, from the likes of Scotland, is one of the highlights of this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival, which unveiled its full programme yesterday.

Assisted by panellists, Stuart Cosgrove (head of programmes (Nations and Regions), Channel 4), David Strachan (Tern Television Productions) and Menna Richards (Controller BBC Wales), the media editor of The Guardian, Matt Wells, asks whether there is a ‘Great Nations and Regions Swindle’.

The timing could hardly be better, given weekend reports that both heads of ITV and BBC feel there are not enough good programme ideas coming out of Scotland.

But many Scotland-based producers will claim the problem is less a lack of good ideas and more an insufficient counter-balance to the close social links that will exist between London-based commissioning editors and producers working close by.